09/04/2020
For businesses: support for the 3 C’s that are cash, cost and credit
Referencing the 3 C’s mentioned during the Resilience Budget on 26 March, Mr Heng shares that they will do more to help businesses with their cash, cost and credit issues. Of the $5.1 billion, $4 billion will be directed here.
To help businesses retain staff, the government will increase their co-funding under the Jobs Support Scheme (for Singaporeans). For foreign workers, there is no co-funding, but there will be levy waivers and rebates.
The government will also help with firm’s financing issues by increasing their risk share for certain loans.
For self-employed persons (SEPs), the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) will also be enhanced.
1. Jobs Support Scheme — co-funding increased to 75% for all sectors
Previously, the government announced that under the Jobs Support Scheme, they will co-fund 25% of the first $4,600 of local employees’ salaries. For affected sectors, the support is more (50% for food businesses and 75% for aviation and tourism).
With the Solidarity Budget announcement, the Jobs Support Scheme co-funding is increased to 75% for all firms for April 2020. According to Mr Heng, there are some 1.9 million Singaporean workers who are eligible.
Do note that those who earn more than $4,600 will still qualify, it’s just that the co-funding will only be for the first $4,600 of the paycheck. Companies can expect this payment as early as this week (for those who opted for GIRO/PayNow).
With this subsidy, the government hopes companies can continue paying workers for a while more, so they don’t have to retrench or put them on no-pay leave.
2. (NEW) Levy waiver + $750 rebate for foreign workers
The above-mentioned Jobs Support Scheme is very generous, but it is only for local employees. To ease the costs of foreign labour, the government announced that they will waive the foreign worker levy for this month.
In addition, businesses will receive a $750 levy rebate for each work permit / S Pass holder. This will be paid out from 21 Apr 2020 onwards.
3. Increased risk share on eligible loans to help businesses with financing issues
One of the key C’s is credit, so the government is also helping businesses to ensure credit access by increasing their risk share on eligible loans to 90% (previously 80%).
Eligible loans include those under the Temporary Bridging Loan Programme, the SME Working Capital Loan programme, and the Enterprise Financing Scheme – Trade Loan scheme, initiated from 8 Apr 2020 to 31 Mar 2021.
4. Increase in rental waivers + new Bill for property tax rebates
After the property tax rebates were announced in the Resilience Budget 2020, many tenants aired grievances that their landlords did not pass on the savings to them. To ensure landlords do their part to help struggling tenants, Mr Heng said that a new Bill will be soon announced.
This new Bill will
Let businesses and individuals defer certain contractual obligations, such as paying rent, repaying loans, or completing work for a period, and
ensure that property owners pass on the Property Tax Rebate in full to tenants
Additionally, the government will increase the rental waiver for industrial, office and agricultural tenants of government agencies from 0.5 to 1 month.
Hawker centres under NEA will continue to receive 3 months of rental waivers, while commercial tenants will receive 2 months.
5. Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) — more inclusive criteria
Those are all for businesses… So what about our freelancers and the self-employed?
Last month, SIRS was introduced to help this group of people: it is a cash relief scheme that gives eligible SEPs $1,000 per month for 9 months to tide through this tough period. Previously, it excluded those who lived in properties with Annual Value over $13,000.
Mr Heng shared that after it was announced, many SEPs who did not fulfil the previous SIRS criteria came forward with appeals, asking to be included as they too needed the support.
As such, the SIRS annual value threshold will be increased to $21,000 to include those who live in some condominiums and other private properties.
The other criteria remain the same, so the SEPs and their spouses must still only own 1 property to be eligible. Together, their assessable income must also not exceed $70,000.
Credit: Moneysmart.sg for the write up.
